Prelude
by sinemoras09
Summary: Somehow, everything starts falling apart. Konan, Itachi. Implied Konan x Pein. Spoilers for chapter 450.


_Inspired by **Shinobi** by Candelabra, which is a fantastic genfic about Itachi. You can read it at www . fanfiction . net/s/4455790/1/Shinobi_

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He wears a necklace: small pale beads delicately threaded on a silver chain. Konan discreetly tries to peer underneath the collar of his cloak, but Itachi catches her gaze.

"I was betrothed." The answer to an unasked question. Itachi's eyes flick upwards, meeting hers. His fingers ghost the pale beads around his neck. "She gave me this."

He makes her feel uneasy, something that Konan loathes to admit, but now she's found herself making unwitting conversation with the man the other Akatsuki give a wide berth. Out of courtesy she allows him the conversation. "What happened?" Konan asks. She wonders idly if maybe she died a tragic death; maybe she was the reason Itachi was so cold.

"I killed her," Itachi says. Konan's eyes widen.

"You seem surprised," Itachi says. His eyes bore into her, and Konan wants to shrink into herself, burst into pieces and scatter into the wind. "You are wondering why I wear this necklace; you speculate about my past," Itachi says. He takes a step forward, and Konan flinches, despite herself. "What if I told you she bored me?" Itachi's voice is soft, menacing. His red eyes burn like coals. "What if I told you I wear this as a reminder not to waste my time?"

"Then I would say you are unnecessarily cruel," Konan says. Itachi smiles. It is not a nice smile.

"The world is cruel, Konan." Itachi turns, the outline of his body beginning to shift. "You of all people should know that."

Konan stands, speechless as his voice is drowned out by the sound of wings, the crows scattering around her.

xXx

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"He's a fucking eyesore!" Deidara says. He rubs his neck, glaring. "Walking around he's like a goddamn legend or something. Hmph! Fucking prick. I hate him!"

"We know," Sasori says, and Konan's mouth thins. Deidara has been ranting for close to an hour now, the veins in his neck distending and his face turning red.

Konan's mind begins to drift. She watches as Tobi claps and Zetsu melts into the walls, and just behind them, Itachi stands at the corner.

She can't help but wonder about him. Though he has been in the Akatsuki for several years, he is still distant. Other. He is always courteous of the other members, and he's careful not to resort to needless violence, but even so the others regard him warily, almost suspiciously. Konan suspects it has to do with the massacre. Though the rest of the Akatsuki had similarly bloodstained pasts, the knowledge of Itachi's killing spree gives him a particularly menacing aura: unlike the others, he didn't have a real motive. He simply felt like it. Konan's eyes focus back on Deidara, who also belabors the point.

"No fucking reason!" Deidara says. He's pacing now, hands gesturing wildly. "He goes and kills them all for no fucking reason, and I'm supposed to sit here and pretend that's okay? Hmph! It's bullshit!"

"You killed people for 'no fucking reason' yourself," Sasori says.

"I had a reason! I had my _art_!" Deidara's voice rises to a fever pitch. Konan turns away.

"My _art_!" Deidara shouts.

Konan pulls her cloak and walks out of the cave, keeping her eyes set straight ahead of her.

xXx

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Nagato is getting weak. Crouching, Konan offers him a glass of water, pressing it against his lips. "Please," Konan whispers. She tilts the glass, the palm of her hand on his forehead. "Please, drink for me," Konan says. "Nagato."

His eyelids flutter; his mouth moves soundlessly, words like paper in his throat. Slowly, Konan sets the glass down and sidles closely to his body. He's in there somewhere, but for now he's etiolated, motionless; pale eyes closed and covered in a milky haze. She wonders quietly what would happen if she were to squeeze the delicate joints of his wrists, tiny and birdlike and breakable in her hand.

xXx

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"Why do you follow him?"

Itachi is watching her, quietly with cat-like eyes. Konan bristles with energy, her skin peeling like paper. "Who?" Konan asks. Itachi's eyes are rimmed by shadows.

"Our leader," Itachi says. "Why do you follow him?"

"Why do you?" Konan says. It's a perfectly valid question; Itachi appears to consider.

"Because it suits my purposes," Itachi says.

"And what would those be?" Konan asks.

"To keep the peace," Itachi says, and his voice floats, calm and unfettered like the gentle slope of a grassy hill. "I believe that is why you joined, if I'm not mistaken."

There's something pointed about the way he says it; Konan's skin is covered in gooseflesh. Nagato has never made his plans public to any of the other members; all they knew (or thought) was that the Akatsuki's aim was to destabilize the regions and make profit out of war; that Itachi saw past this was unsettling.

"Nothing gets past your eyes," Konan says. Itachi nods his head.

"You have not answered my question," Itachi says.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I am curious." Itachi's eyes are different somehow. Probing, but less impersonal. The detachment is almost gone. "You are not like the others."

"I am a woman," Konan says. Itachi's mouth quirks.

"Beyond that," Itachi says. "They call you God's Angel. I find it curious that an Angel would want for war."

"You said so yourself, Uchiha; war can be cleansing, if used in the right way. Didn't you say you're here for peace, as well?"

"Perhaps I was being facetious," Itachi says. His eyes grow cold. "I do not appreciate you watching me, Konan," Itachi says. "You would do right to keep out of my way."

"You're mistaken if you think I care," Konan says. She steps forward, glaring. "Uchiha Itachi," Konan says. "You unsettle me. You do not mix well with the other members. If it were not for Kisame you would have been eaten alive. Do not for a second think otherwise; we both know this is true."

She turns and leaves without another word.

xXx

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"Nagato," Konan says.

"Pein," Nagato says. His eyes open slowly, twin circles of light looking up into her eyes. "My name is Pein."

"Your name is Nagato," Konan says. Nagato breathes but doesn't answer, sinking into himself.

Konan squeezes her eyes, pressing her face against his sallow cheek. Then she stands and leaves, drawing her cloak around her.

xXx

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That night, she feels a hand brush against her face.

Konan opens her eyes and sees the man who was once Yahiko staring back at her. "We are Pein," Yahiko says. Konan nods mutely and Pein climbs into the bed next to her. She wonders idly how much Nagato feels, if he can experience the sensation of skin against skin, using spare bodies and lying moribund in the dark.

There is no companionship in this, nothing to counter against the loneliness that pervades the small room or the shadows that loom like ghosts.

xXx

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Konan pushes through the darkness, crying. Paper tears stream behind her like petals as she tries to hide her pain with her ability, shielding herself tightly with a paper shroud. Nagato. Yahiko. Pein. The names swirl and whirl in her mind and Konan can't think, Konan can't act, there's war and there's peace and there's nothing but the bitter taste of being alone.

She nearly knocks into Itachi; were it not for his reflexes they both would have been knocked over.

"Konan." Itachi is alarmed. Konan pushes past him but he's quick; he grabs her by the arm.

"Don't," Konan says. She doesn't have time for his games.

She jerks hard but Itachi grips her harder; if she wanted to, she could have easily broken free, turning her arm into paper and disappearing into a cloud of origami smoke. But Konan doesn't want to. He would probably just trap her in a genjutsu, anyway. "What do you want with me?"

And Konan starts to sob. She barely notices when he folds her up against the space between his chest and his shoulder and whisks her away before the others can see.

He feels surprisingly warm.

xXx

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Itachi is quiet. When Konan finally pulls away, he lets her; she notices how carefully he keeps his eyes trained on the floor.

"Why did you do that?" Konan asks. Her voice is small. Silently she curses herself for being so weak. As a woman, she has to be twice as strong; as Akatsuki's vice-leader she has no choice. She was caught in a compromising situation; she could be blackmailed, even killed, if word got out: Konan steels herself, waiting for Itachi's answer.

"Your eyes are red," Itachi says, finally. He glances up at her, and she notices his eyes are black. "Are you okay?"

Konan nods, stiffly. Itachi offers her a tissue which Konan clumsily takes; her hands are shaking. "Where is your sharingan?" she asks. Itachi shakes his head.

"You are too vulnerable; I am afraid my sharingan might accidentally hurt you."

Konan wipes her eyes. "That must be quite a change for you," Konan says. Itachi nods, gravely.

"It is like wearing glasses, then suddenly taking them off," Itachi says. "Without my sharingan it is as if all the world is unfocused to me."

It makes sense. He has not used normal sight in quite some time.

They sit for an awkward moment while Konan tries to collect her thoughts, struggling to process everything that's happened. Without his sharingan, Itachi's eyes are different. More gentle, somehow. But then the rest of his face has softened too, and Konan finally understands why he cordons himself off from the others.

They're sitting close, and almost without thinking, Konan reaches up and touches the necklace around Itachi's throat. He starts to flinch, but seems to catch himself; he almost seems to hold his breath while she traces the pale beads. She doesn't even notice when her fingers come to rest on the hollow of his throat.

"You loved her." Konan searches his eyes. "Why?" she asks. _Why did you kill her? All of them? Why did you betray the rest of your kin?_

"The same reason you wish for war," Itachi says. Konan nods, mutely. She traces the line of his jaw, pushes the hair out of Itachi's eyes.

"To protect the peace," Konan says.

"Yes," Itachi says. He gently moves her hand.

xXx

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They sit like that for what seems like years, Itachi cat-like and quiet while Konan struggles to gather her thoughts. Finally, Konan musters the courage to look at him, channeling what little strength she has left.

"Thank you," Konan says.

Itachi smiles and his eyes crease closed; they remind her of two twin folds of origami paper.

xXx

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There is a loneliness that pervades her small room, seeps into the fading afternoon light and the curtain of autumn rain.

Itachi is dead. Nagato is dead as well.

Around her, the citizens of Amegakure turn, delighted, as the rain begins to dissipate; the clouds part and the sky brightens, sunlight glinting off the puddles on the ground.

Konan pulls off her cloak, paper wings unfurling, and turns her face upwards to face the sun.

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**A/N: After writing _Invisible Men_ I started to think of how the other Akatsuki may have thought about Itachi. And then I got to thinking about Konan, because she's awesome. **

**Also: I totally stole the idea of the necklace from the fanfic****Shinobi** by Candelabra: Itachi is betrothed, and is given a necklace by his fiance; he keeps wearing it after he kills her. After reading it, it became my personal head canon. You can read her fic here at www dot fanfiction dot net/s/4455790/1/Shinobi :)  



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